Music and video consumers, especially those who utilize portable audio and video devices, have learned to settle with the quality of music and video content. In some instances, audio and video quality is sacrificed in order to keep file sizes small and easily storable/transferable. In other instances, the initial quality of recordings is poor to begin with resulting in a low quality reproduction or download. In yet other instances, the hardware and software of portable devices are not adequate to allow the full sound and video components to come across to the listener, as they were originally recorded by the studio or artist. In many instances, an audio or video file that begins as a high resolution file is “sampled down” or converted to a lower resolution when downloaded to a device that is unable to handle the original resolution.
Studio quality resolution and sound is generally that sound recorded in formats that are either the best available or desired by the artist. In either instance, the artist (or someone who represents the artist), the studio or the label certifies the file to indicate that it is “studio quality sound” or a “studio quality resolution file”. In some instances, the artist or studio selects a resolution format that may not be the highest quality, but may be the best format for the sales platform (e.g. iTunes™ or Amazon™). High definition music and video should be recorded in the highest quality format available, regardless of the file size, and transmitted to users in that same quality format. Generally, music lovers purchase high end sound systems that can accommodate these large files, can reproduce the intricate sounds and phrasing that are never heard on lower end systems and portable players, but these same music lovers also want the ability to play music anywhere and on any device, many of which now don't support high resolution audio and/or video files, so they purchase devices that support lower resolution formats, including MP3 players.
Also, there are many systems that can accept high definition formats, but ultimately convert those files to a substandard format in order to transmit to the speakers and/or headphones and to deal with storage issues. For example, US 2008/0065768 discloses live streaming of high resolution video performances to a handheld device, but there is absolutely no disclosure regarding what happens to that performance once it reaches the handheld device. The disclosure focuses on the ability to view these performances from inside or outside of the venue, but there is no application that receives the high resolution video file and converts it so that it can be played in its original high resolution form on the handheld device with no loss of video or audio quality.
There is also a need to have systems that have the ability to access, store, accommodate and/or playback recorded studio or live music or video, live streaming music and/or video, archived studio or live music and/or video or a combination thereof in all available formats, including the original format intended by the artist (“studio quality resolution or sound”), high definition formats, such as blu-ray format, or any other desirable format. This flexibility means that the music can be heard, in its original format or at any other resolution without degradation of sound, on any sound system, including a laptop computer, a Cloud™ player, an iPod™ system, an MP3 or MP4 system, a desktop computer, a handheld device, such as a Palm Pilot, Blackberry or cell phone, and other suitable portable or local systems without being detrimentally converted into another form, compressed or otherwise modified.
Right now, artists tend to use different resolution formats in the studio for different reasons: a) some have been misled to believe that the human ear cannot hear any higher resolution than the one they have been presented with, although higher resolution is available; and b) some have chosen a lower resolution format over a higher resolution format or the highest resolution format in order to save money in storage and recording costs, thinking that their music can never be heard in the highest resolution anyway, because companies such as Apple™ release lower resolutions to their consumers. In other words, the artist believes it is a waste of money to record at a higher resolution format, if it will never be heard.
For older recordings, there are different issues. The resolution of recorded sound was very high when recordings were made in analog, before digital recording. Older recordings like vinyl have more detail in the sound. It is this factor—the detail—that allows one with experience over years in the art of sound recording to see the gradual migration of the art form of recorded sound degrade to a place where the generally accepted digital format (MP3) is only 5% of the highest digital format in large scale use (24/192). It is this degradation in the audio quality of retail consumer products that causes the artist to record in a lower resolution than is currently available. In other words, why record in high resolution if no one will ever hear it? It is desirable to be able to reverse this pattern of degradation in recorded sound quality.
Listeners should also be able to pick and choose the sound and/or video resolution format that they want to listen to and control every aspect of the listening experience whether it is at home, at the office, in a car or at the gym. Therefore, there is a need for a device or suite of devices that allows the listener to playback the highest possible resolution, based on resolution availability and device capability, while at the same time allowing the listener the flexibility of switching between available resolution formats for an audio file and/or video file.
It would be ideal to develop a multiple-resolution audio and video system that includes: at least one shared network infrastructure; at least one audio file, video file or a combination thereof, wherein each of the at least one audio file, video file or combination thereof has at least one resolution format and wherein one of the at least one resolution format is a studio quality resolution; at least one executable user interface application; and at least one device that accesses the at least one executable user interface application.